“There is nothing more painful in this world than to be in love with something that never can be.”
Laura Chouette

Our love began like
An old Harlequin novel
Where two strangers meet
And resist their attraction,
Dancing through moments
Of passion disguised
As intense dislike,
Seemingly helpless
Before their differences
And growing desire.
So it was with us,
You with your arrogant
Self-assurance,
Me with my stubborn
Independence,
Each of us loving
Those things that
Drove us most mad,
Until that moment
When we accepted
What we most feared,
Just how much
We cherished those differences
For making us
The individuals we are,
And how well they melded us
Into one discrete whole...
Until we were driven apart
By those things
That made us so similar,
That should have been the glue
That held us together.
Strange how our differences
Made us stronger
While our commonalities
Provided the weaknesses
We could not overcome;
Yet sadly
We still love
Despite them.

c. 2024